(Notes on) Panic & Plentitude

"American citizens in particular are encouraged to fracture their self-conceptions on the hard edges of panic and plentitude, suspicion and sympathy, particularity and universalism."
--Castiglia and Castronovo, A "Hive of Subtlety": Aesthetics and the End(s) of Cultural Criticism

She listed the contents of her [go-bag]: a copy of ‘Meditations’ by Marcus Aurelius; toys for her two rescue dogs; a pen that can write upside-down that the journalist Hunter S. Thompson gave her; a notebook; a bow and arrows; a photograph of her father, who died this year; a bottle of Chartreuse and glasses; five pounds of mixed nuts; prosecco; Ginger Snaps; a block of Colby cheese; and condoms.

Ms. Carroll said, ‘One must be prepared to welcome the men of FEMA.’

Stephanie Rosenbloom. “When Fleeing Disaster, What’s in Their Bag?New York Times, November 28, 2011.